School District Debates Free Breakfast in the Classroom Program

To eat or not to eat breakfast in the classroom? That is a question that is dividing people in the Lemon Grove School District.

The district has tried different strategies to get more students to participate in a federal no-cost breakfast program at their schools without the required success.

A 78 percent participation rate is needed to get full federal reimbursement under the National School Lunch Act. Only 45 percent participate, however, and the uncovered expenses are costing the district more than $110,000. The K-8 district has about 3,800 students.

The district has tried to increase participation using such strategies as “second-chance” breakfast, where tardy students can eat packaged meals in the classroom, and “grab and go,” where carts are placed near an entrance and students go to a designated area to eat.

The district now is considering an almost certain way to raise breakfast participation: Serve it in the classroom before instruction begins. It is a controversial issue.

More than 150 parents, teachers, administrators, community organizers, including a dietitian and representative from the San Diego Hunger Coalition, attended a special meeting on Tuesday at Palm Middle School, where several aired their views about the breakfast in the classroom proposal.

Trustee Blanca Brown said she has been pushing for the proposal for two years, saying it will make sure students are not hungry before classes start and help them focus better. She said she wants to see action finally taken.

She’s concerned that the district is being pressured by the district’s labor unions not to implement breakfast in the classroom.

The board will take action on the proposal at its April 26 meeting.

“We need to decide,” said Katie Dexter, board president. “We’re bleeding money for not having our participation rate up.”

If the board approves it, students will begin their day in class eating breakfast. If the proposal fails, the district will likely have to revert to the traditional free or reduced-pay lunch program.

At the Tuesday forum, several people spoke against the breakfast in the classroom proposal, saying it would cut into classroom instruction at a time when the district is under pressure from the state to improve academically.

They included teachers and parents such as Amy Blood, who has three children in the district.

“Our kids need all the instructional time that they can possibly get,” Blood said.

Pierre Finney, president of the Lemon Grove Teachers Association, said teachers are under a tight schedule already and cannot afford to lose instructional time.

“With us losing time in furlough days, the kids are in school less. We need to give them every minute,” she said. She recommended sticking with the approaches the district is currently trying and starting breakfast earlier.

Parents also spoke in support of the proposal. One was a teacher who has children in the district but does not qualify for them to receive free meals at school.

“Yes, I chose to have three kids and I’m proud of them, but that doesn’t mean I have to suffer the consequences of the economy,” said Esvedia Sanchez. “It’s totally doable. I’m in favor of the breakfast in the classroom.”

Maggie Shordon, who is involved with a project that aims to improve nutrition in Lemon Grove schools, said breakfast in the classroom will make sure students eat healthy foods.

“We need to try it. It’s been on the table long enough,” Shordon said. “This may work. Breakfast in the classroom may increase instruction time. It will decrease tardiness.”

Norma Johnson, coordinator of breakfast in the classroom in the San Diego Unified School District, said the number of schools participating has grown to 49 in six years. Ninety-two percent of the students at those schools eat breakfast in their classrooms.

“It really has been a benefit for those children. It really gives us that good start for the day,” Johnson said. She said parents and teachers had the same concerns expressed at the Tuesday forum in Lemon Grove before the program started.